Welcome to this week’s Fresh Goods, where you get to virtually rummage through our post box and see all the lovely things that have landed this week for us to test, consume, wear or simply look at like confused apes. Let’s begin!

GoPro HD Hero camera

Of all the ‘action cameras’ out there, the GoPro is one of our favourites. It’ll do all the other things most top end cameras will (1080p full HD, 60fps at 720p), the modern ones have a decent 2.5 hour (claimed) battery life thanks to a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery, but the thing that sets it apart is the choice of mounting options.

There are bloody loads, coming as standard with a helmet strap, a number of stick-on mounts and a three way adjustable arm for getting creative with your angles. However, we reckon the pick of the bunch for capturing mountain bike action is the Chest Strap, which is available separately for £39.99. You can also buy battery expanders and even a little screen to take the guesswork out of setting it up. Tidy see.

Magura MT8 disc brake

This is Maguras latest and greatest super high end brake, using their impressive carbon fibre moulding skills to create what they say is the first full carbon brake lever. We test rode them at the launch (see here for more) a while back but this is our first chance to get our hands on some for use at home.

The lever body is made from carbon fibre injected resin and has a specially woven ‘Carbolay’ lever to make it strong but as light as possible. The calliper is one-piece forged aluminium item which is then post-machined to get rid of any excess weight. We’re looking forward to giving these a good thrashing – we’ve got on well with Maguras past…

Schwalbe Nobby Nic Evo tyre

The latest versions of the Nobby Nics use a triple compound to reduce rolling resistance, which Schwalbe say is a first for mountain bike tyres. In fact there are three different versions of their Triple Star Compounds, which use a hard base compound then task-specific middle and side compounds. These tyres use the PaceStar combination with a medium centre and medium soft edges. They also use the tubeless-ready ‘Evo’ sidewall which uses a different carcass construction to provide claimed improvements in rolling resistance. They’re available in sizes from 2.25″ to a chunky 2.4″…

Schwalbe Muddy Mary TrailStar Freeride intermediate tyres

More rubber for the inevitable slop that will follow these few, sweet months of summer. These are ‘intermediate’ tyres and they’re pretty aggressive with large, square blocks with plenty of sipes for ekeing out the last bits of grip. They use the all mountain specific TrailStar compound with fast rolling base, medium soft centre tread and soft shoulders to provide a mix of traction and pedalling ability. They also have a SnakeSkin fabric sidewall which adds resistance to cuts as well as pinch flat protection.

Schwalbe Dirty Dan VertStar downhill mud tyres

Yup, these are the nuclear option for slop. Long, soft spikes on the edges with marginally shorter centre spikes for improved rolling should mean that downhillers cutting down their spikes should be a thing of the past. They use the same tough SnakeSkin sidewall with SnakeBite protection but a downhill specific double carcass and the super sticky VertStar compound (super soft centre with an extremely soft shoulder) but these tyres also have a special rubber coating on the bead to prevent them moving round the rim under hard braking at low pressures.

Chipps’ Mod weapons

The office is a strange place. One day head word-wrangler Chipps came in with these two and, replete with Ben Sherman outfit and wide eyes, started asking us if we wanted any ‘purple hearts’ before threatening to cut our faces and telling us he was off to the seaside, getting on his bike and making motorbike noises as he headed for Gaddings Dam. Odd doesn’t cover it.

Actually he picked these up on his travels. The top one is for spreading tasty pickle on your cheese butties or cutting down brambles and the lower one is like a bit of chainsaw chain with strap handles so you and a friend can do a spot of pruning. We’re not sure where they came from but hopefully Chipps will return to answer any questions early next week, when the bennies have worn off…

Dirty Dog disc rotors

Web

Skull

Bone Burner

Yeah, Shimano may well have all that Ice Tech stuff but it’s a bit boring isn’t it? If what you really need to set off your build something a bit more, you know, flaming skull based, then these will be just the thing. They’re made in the USA by Dirty Dog and although they look decorative, they’re all made from high-grade, heat treated stainless steel which is laser cut – apart from the Web rotor, which is stamped. A full range of sizes from 160-203mm is available too…

Husky Canvas ‘Skyway to heaven’ T-shirt

The lovely Matt is modelling this retro BMX themed T shirt from Husky Canvas. We’re liking the understated looks plenty and you’ll get plenty of knowing nods from a certain age group…

There’s a full range of stylish and subtly bike themed t shirts over on their website and all the T shirts use lovely feeling organic cotton. Founder Pete tells us that they have a women’s range coming soon. Check out their website for more…

I bought one of those hand chaninsaws off ebay a few months ago. My folding pruning saw I used to carry wasn’t up to anything over 6″ diameter. The chainsaw wil get through a 10″ log in under 5 minutes. Perfect for trail clearing.

I simply love the fact that this is ostensibly a mountain bike forum website, presenting new shiny mountain bike bits to the gathered hoardes, yet somehow more comments have been directed towards a pruning saw. It ain’t all bad this magazine-website-emporium, y’know

2nd the pruning saw being a trail clearance tool,and so a great mtb tool… 2nd the Silky saw comment though, but mines quite large, so am tempted by the hand chainsaw too, as you can never have too many saws!

As much as i love knives – got a nice little collection – doesnt that crkt blade lock open on the M16? the little red lever on the back of the blade is the CRKT Autolawkes system which you have to release to fold the blade.Any knife with a locking blade no matter what size is going to get you a trip to the station in cuffs if your found with it.
Alot of multi-tools with blades fall foul of this but at least with a multi-tool you can argue that its not a out and out knife